INHERITANCE AND FOLATES

Epigenetics: POISONED INHERITANCE  

Lack of vitamine B9 in males may result in sperm that lead to serious abnormalities in future generations. It can, in rodents at least, be as debilitating for embryos as deficiency in mothers apparently due to epigenetic (*) modifications that may lead to cancer, diabetes, and even autism and schizophrenia.

  Image: The Economist

Epigenetics: POISONED INHERITANCE (from an article in the print edition of http://www.economist.com/printedition/2013-12-14 The Economist, Sicence and Technology, Dec. 14, 2013, cited in [AboveTheFold@newsletters.environmentalhealthnews.org])

A lack of folate in the diet of male mice reprograms their sperm in ways that damage their offspring. Could the same be true in men?

Folate, or vitamin B9, helps embryos develop by encouraging the formation of the neural tube, the precursor to the brain and the spinal cord.  Food rich in folate has been recommended to future mothers, but never to men, since they do not contribute further to the physical substance of an embryo.

Researchers of McGill University in Montreal have discovered that To start with, these males have been found less fertile. And 27% of the offsprings showed abnsortmalities compared to only 3% of the controls. Investigating, the researchers found methylation patterns of DNA differed from those of controls.

A direct link to abnormalities have not yet been proven. But the researchers note, however, that the causes of more than 40% of birth defects in children in the rich world remain unknown. They also note that the number of people with diabetes in America alone has risen from 6m in 1985 to more than 20m now. Many cancer rates are rising too, and research is throwing up examples of tumours caused by epigenetic modifications of unknown origin. Not yet proven, but a further preventative reason for helathy nourishment. Although it may be that the damage is actually caused before progenitors, and specially men, have any say in the matter

(*) the epigenetic modification involves a process called methylation, which alters the behaviour of genes in a way that can be passed from one generation to another. Folate’s job is to regulate methylation.

Full article: http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21591547-lack-folate-diet-male-mice-reprograms-their-sperm-ways